But neither America believes the other really exists. Because it’s nowhere to be found on its Facebook newsfeed.

This election made it abundantly clear that social media, in trying to replace the real world, has led us astray. It’s taken an already divided nation and perilously widened the gap by making virtue of extremity. Worse yet, it fooled pundits and campaign advisers into believing the entire populace actually agreed with them.

It’s no wonder that Trump’s victory is being called a “shocker” and “stunning” by most media outlets. Twitter especially is an Admiral’s Club for journalists, a group that boasts few conservative members. So, for them — spending their days in a Manhattan office, dismissing all Trump supporters as trolls — it really was.

After Richard Nixon’s victory in 1972, Pauline Kael wrote, “I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken.”

Then, Kael’s liberal myopia was understandable. She lived in New York City and worked as a film critic for the New Yorker — not exactly a blue collar gig in not exactly a Rust Belt state. Today, however, ignorance is voluntary.

Voted for Hillary Clinton? Block! Voted for Donald Trump? Mute! Voted for Gary Johnson? Unfriend! And so it goes until the majority of a person’s conversations are held with ideological clones. Like a thin-skinned executive, we’ve neatly pruned our social circles into packs of “yes” men. If that’s what makes you happy, go for it. But no informed, conscientious citizen should confuse his online playground with reality.

What a shame that social media has fallen so short of its promise. On Twitter and Facebook, making friends takes one click. That should allow for more diverse perspectives and discourse than we ever imagined. It should bring us closer together. Instead, we’ve created perfect, protected “Sims” worlds where all outsider thinking is strictly banned.

If the Democrats want to recover after their crushing loss on Tuesday, they must first stop unfriending the “deplorables” and listen to what they have to say. Same goes for the Republicans. After all, the population of each America? 59 million.